aussierach
Nov 15, 06, 3:12 am
I have no idea how frequent flyer points work, but I know that between my sister and I we have 21000 points after flying with united last year overseas. Am I able to use these to upgrade to business class on Air New Zealand (I assume they are in alliance with united)? This is probably a silly question but I thought I'd ask anyway :) I have recently had spinal surgery and I am a bit worried about being uncomfortable on a long haul flight in premier econ. Can you pay to upgrade on check in like united? And how much is it? Sorry for all the questions but I'm fairly new to all of this :)
The only ways to upgrade on Air NZ are by:
1) Using Air NZ points to upgrade a ticket which has already been paid for and printed, or
2) Paying the difference up to the higher class fare.
Having said that, Air NZ Premium Economy is the best product below Business Class between Australia and NZ and the USA. 38 inches of legroom is plenty!
Also, with Air NZ you can split your ticket by paying one-way in one class and return in the other. As an example, you could fly Trans-Pacific to LA or San Francisco in Premium Economy, and back in Business.
One-way in PE is A$1600 and one-way in Business is $4000, so frequent Air NZ flyers who achieve Air NZ Gold status typically buy a mixed class return for $5600 and use their 2 Gold Air NZ annual free long-haul upgrades to ensure that the whole thing is flown in Business Class.